Cantinho da Vila — Restaurant in Sintra

Initially, we had a positive vibe, and all was good, where the service staff was efficient in settling us down.

We were ushered indoors as the tables outside were fully occupied. We sat down at a table next to the window where a cool breeze offered us a reprieve from the hot grill smell...

We ordered Sardines and the local Guilho prawns as starters, followed by the grilled Bacalhau (cod) and Polvo (octopus).

Sardines were fresh, prawns and the cod were both overcooked.

Before the Octopus arrived, we witnessed one of the chefs/cook eating something in the kitchen and licking her fingers as if she was in her own kitchen and she didn't wash her hands after.

What made it worse was, when I feedback it to Gue about how unhygienic behaviour this was in a kitchen and for her to continue handling food with the same unwashed hands, he did not immediately ask the chef/cook to wash her hands or stop handling food items in the kitchen.

She did this during the prep of my grilled octopus, and they hesitated on how to handle the supposed contaminated dish. After a few minutes of consideration, they took it away and made me a new plate.

Such unhygienic behaviour should not be tolerated in any restaurant.

For those interested, she's the cook/chef on the left (without gloves).

Overall, would i recommend...

DO NOT EAT HERE! My husband I had lunch here and we both woke up the next day feeling sick with food poisoning!! We were supposed to leave for Porto and we’re so sick we couldn’t even go. My husband was throwing up and having cold sweats and we barely slept. STAY FAR AWAY FROM THIS PLACE UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE SICK! A $65 meal turned into a $2,000+ one as we had to stay an extra night at our Lisbon hotel, had to cancel our stay in Porto without getting refunded, and had to reschedule our flights back home.

The service was also awful. The server walked by us several times without even asking about water. We had the octopus salad, chorizo, the green broth soup, mixed salad and a grilled octopus with potatoes. Everything was not good and the octopus was extremely oily. Thinking back, the octopus salad smelled a bit weird so I’m pretty sure they served us expired seafood… we haven’t even been able to leave our hotel all day long and can’t put down even the smallest of snacks without needing to run to the bathroom.

YOU GUYS SUCK!!! How can you possibly serve bad food? I wish I could get a full refund for that horrible meal. Our first time to Portugal has been absolutely RUINED by this...

I wouldn't come back. Worst is that we were charged for the apetizer after not eating it (4€) and saying we didn't want it. We don't speak Portuguese and didn't know what "couvert" was. As that word is similar to a Spanish one meaning another thing, we thought it was something like a tax. And it was, for not asking. It wasn't fair. Waitress was kind except for that detail. Food was late (in a cold living room) and was really normal, nothing out of the ordinary. We followed the good reviews to enter and after leaving I can't understand them, to be honest. I ordered a creamy rice (16€, not worth it), but my shoes were creamier. My gf ordered something with cod and same. Desserts didn't look good, and even us, sweet lovers, preferred leaving instead. Not the worst place I've been to, but I wouldn't recommend it at all. But if you choose to eat there, please be careful with being charged properly. We just ordered a dish per head and a drink. 20€ per head aprox. Not worth it. Prefer McDonald's. At least "food" is warm...